


Under the Sea

by ultramarcypan



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Gen, Mermaid!Yumi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-13 02:09:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7958236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultramarcypan/pseuds/ultramarcypan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all starts when Tsurugi finds a shirt tucked away in the back of Yumi’s closet.  It ends with a mermaid tail and a marriage proposal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> *kicks down the door* HELLO, YES, HAVE YOU CONSIDERED MERMAID YUMIKAGE? BECAUSE I HAVE.
> 
> I don’t even have an explanation for this. I also don’t think I need one because YUMI AS A MERMAID is probably the best thing I’ve written.
> 
> Technically, this is part of _These Things We've Done_ but I felt this was deserving of it's own special post.

“I swear to God, his closet is bigger than all of ours,” Tsurugi says, voice somewhat muffled by all the clothes he’s buried behind. “There could be a portal to Narnia back here, for all we know.”

“You reckon Yumi’s secretly the White Queen?” Mikuni asks from the floor, where he’s digging intently through a shoebox of accessories. He pulls out a headband adorned with tiny strawberries and places it on his head.

“Maybe,” Tsurugi considers. “I mean, he is--OH MY GOD KUNI-CHAN LOOK AT THIS!” There’s a clatter from far back in the closet and Mikuni quirks an eyebrow as Tsurugi’s face appears between two shirts, grinning broadly. With a grand flourish, he holds out what it is he’s just found.

“Lord have mercy, is that what I think it is?” Mikuni breathes out, jumping to his feet. He reaches out to reverently stroke the black feather boa in Tsurugi’s hands. “It’s so soft,” he whispers, taking it from his roommate. Carefully, he winds the boa around his neck and over his shoulders, planting his hands on his hips and tilting his head back. “Am I the prettiest belle at the ball?”

“I have no clue what you just asked me, but you look good,” Tsurugi answers, flashing a quick thumbs up. “I’m gonna go see if I can find another one; maybe we can match, Kuni-chan~”

Mikuni watches as Tsurugi dives back into the closet, wiggling back between the gaps in the clothes until he disappears from sight again. “If you git swallowed back there, I ain’t comin to help you,” he calls him.

“What the _fuck_ ,” a voice growls behind him, and Mikuni whips around, boa flapping in the wind, “is going on in my room right now?” Yumi has appeared in the doorway of his room with a vein popping on his forehead and his teeth tightly clenched. 

“We’re raiding your closet!” Tsurugi calls cheerfully, voice somewhat muffled. “You’ve got a lot of clothes, Yumi-chan,” he adds, and there’s a trace of amazement in his voice. “I feel like you should have been a designer major, instead of biology.”

“Get your scrawny ass out of my closet!” Yumi barks, tossing his backpack onto his bed.

“You gonna be the one to make me?” Tsurugi taunts and Mikuni lets out a snort of laughter. Yumi’s vicious glare turns on him.

“Yes,” he snarls, marching into the closet. There’s a yelp and a thud against the wall before Yumi emerges with Tsurugi slung over his shoulder, looking very put out. Yumi drops him unceremoniously on the bed, right next to Yumi’s backpack, and he bounces slightly on the mattress.

“Rude, Yumi-chan,” Tsurugi scolds, as Yumikage yanks the boa and headband off of Mikuni, throwing them on the bed as well. Tsurugi immediately scoops up the boa and puts it on.

“ _Off_!” Yumi says, pointing at the boa. Tsurugi obeys with a dramatic sigh. “And I’m the rude one?” He continues, glaring at both of his roommates. Mikuni moves to sit on the bed with Tsurugi, though the two of them don’t look the least bit ashamed. “I’m not the one digging through someone else’s closet when they’re not home.”

“You can dig through my closet,” Tsurugi offers, kicking his legs back and forth. “I won’t mind.”

“I don’t want to dig through your closet!” Yumi yells, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Well, now you’ve got me confused as a fart in a fan factory,” Mikuni complains, and both of his roommates turn to stare at him. “Well I am!” He says defensively, sticking his nose up in the air.

“Anyway,” Tsurugi says, turning back to Yumi. “You’ve been holding out on us.” To prove his point, he holds out a t-shirt he’d been hiding wadded up in his hands. It’s a plain white color with the words ‘Bubble Land Aquarium’ printed on it in wavy, light blue lettering. Just above it, on the breast pocket, the word ‘Staff’ is embroidered in dark blue thread. Yumi’s face turns pink.

“Bastard, give me that,” he hisses, lunging for the t-shirt. Tsurugi attempts to hold it up and out of the way, but sitting down and being shorter than Yumi means that his roommate snatches it away easily. “You don’t touch things that don’t belong to you!”

“You never told us you worked at the aquarium,” Tsurugi says, ignoring Yumi’s protest. “Why were you holding out on us?”

“Because the two of you are menaces to society and the fish don’t deserve to be harassed.” Yumi chucks the shirt back into his closet, pulling the doors shut quickly. “Now get out of my room.”

“But I like fishies,” Tsurugi whines, slumping over against Mikuni.

The Southern boy pats him on the shoulder. “There, there; it’ll be alright,” he soothes. “In fact,” he continues, a sly smirk on his face, “why don’t all of us go and visit Yumi while he’s workin’?”

“Stay away from my workplace,” Yumi says bluntly.

Tsurugi’s head has perked up. “We’re gonna follow you to work,” he informs the other, and Yumi flinches.

“Do not follow me to work! The whales are very sensitive,” Yumi says loudly.

“The...the whales are sensitive.” Mikuni repeats, and it’s more of a disbelieving statement than an actual question.

“Yes,” Yumi insists, face turning pink. “They especially hate loud college brats.”

“But they let you work there,” Tsurugi points out, and it’s there the conversation ends because Mikuni and Tsurugi are forced to flee from Yumi, who lunges at them with murder in his eyes.

*

The next day, obviously, they follow Yumi to work.

“This is a violation of trust and our roommate agreement,” Jun says, looking highly uncomfortable.

“Our roommate agreement is more like guidelines,” Mikuni says with a dismissive wave. “Now grab your keys, we got an aquarium to go to.”

“Let it be known that I am against this,” Jun states, grabbing his keys from the bowl they keep on the hall table.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tsurugi is practically vibrating with excitement. “Now let’s get going Jun-chan!”

*

The ride to the Bubble Land Aquarium takes about fifteen minutes that pass far too quickly for Jun’s liking. They’re standing to the side of the entrance now, and Mikuni and Tsurugi look like Christmas has come early. “So, what are we going to tell them? ‘Hey, our roommate works here and we’re stalking him?’” Jun asks.

Mikuni rolls his eyes and Tsurugi snorts. “Amature,” the blonde says with a shake of his head. “Just follow us and look pretty darling,” Mikuni drawls with a grin. “We’ll handle the talkin’.”

Jun opens his mouth but doesn’t get the chance to say anything as the other two confidently push open the doors and walk into the aquarium; he has no choice but to hurry and follow them before he loses them in the slowly growing crowd.

With easy steps, Mikuni makes his way over to the information desk. “S’cuse me ma’am,” he says brightly, and the young woman behind the desk looks up. “Would ya mind helpin’ us out?” Tsurugi throws an arm out to catch Jun.

“Let him work,” he whispers, eyes trained on Mikuni. Jun grumbles but stays where he is.

“Of course,” the woman says, sitting up straight. “What did you need help with?”

“Well, ya see,” Mikuni begins, smiling at her. “Our roommate texted us sayin’ he left his lunch at home.” Jun watches as his youngest roommate produces a brown paper bag apparently out of his ass and holds it up for the receptionist to see. “He asked us to bring it by for him; name’s Tsukimitsu Yumikage?” Mikuni prompts, and the woman's face lights up.

“Oh, you’re friends of Yumikage-san?” She asks brightly. “He should still be in the changing room; you can go on back and bring him his lunch!”

“Changing room?” Mikuni’s voice pitches higher at the end of the question, and Tsurugi’s nails dig into Jun’s arm as he tries to restrain himself. Jun mentally begins composing all three of their wills in his mind, as well as the very lengthy apology they’re going to owe Yumi after this.

“Yeah, just take a left when you get to the end of the petting tank,” she continues, pointing in the direction they need to go. “The door should still be unlocked; we’re not technically open yet, but I can make an exception for friends of Yumikage-san.”

Mikuni’s shoulders are shaking and he very quickly says “Thank you kindly, ma’am,” before turning back to grab Jun and Tsurugi and tug them in the direction. He waits until they’re just out of sight of the front desk before he lets the two of them go and falls to his knees, hands clasped tightly in front of him.

“What--” Jun begins, but Mikuni shushes him rapidly.

“I’m prayin’,” he says breathlessly. “Oh God, please, I know I ain’t been to church in as long as a month of Sundays, but please, please let this here be everythin’ I think it is.”

“Get up,” Jun snaps, tugging the younger man up by his elbow, mainly because Mikuni is making a scene in the aquarium but partly because Tsurugi looked like he was going to join him on the floor praying. Already, his other roommate has tears gathering in the corners of his eyes and he’s breathing heavily. “Let’s just get this over with,” Jun sighs, heading towards the door the receptionist had pointed to.

Spurred into action, Mikuni bounds ahead of Jun, reaching the door before him. He throws it open with a fling of his arms; it hits the wall with a loud bang, and Tsurugi and Jun crowd in behind him to peer into the room.

The changing room itself isn’t very big; it’s dimly lit, and half of it is taken up by a tank, that seems to be connected to another part of the aquarium. There are several small dressers shoved against the opposite wall, all crowded with bags and beauty products, and there’s a tiny closet that’s slightly ajar in the back of the room. 

And on the edge of the tank sits Yumi, legs dangling into the water.

Well, tail. His _tail_ is dangling into the water. His bright blue, _mermaid_ tail is dangling in the water, waving gently back and forth, and sparkling in the dim light.

Yumikage is shirtless, though there are glittery sparkles all over his body and delicate gem stickers creating intricate patterns on his face and arms. His hair is down, hanging loosely to the small of his back, and there’s a star fish hair clip pinned just behind his ear.

Tsurugi actually swoons. He actually fucking swoons, right then and there, into Jun’s arms. “I’m dead,” he declares. “I’m dead, I’ve died, and I’ve gone to heaven.”

“Oh God, praise Jesus, my momma was right, God is good, I swear I’ll go to church again to thank ya for this Lord,” Mikuni mumbles rapidly under his breath, eyes glazing over dreamily.

Yumi looks like a deer in headlights. His mouth is frozen open in a tiny ‘o’ shape and his eyes are wide open. Jun is too shocked to even begin to offer him the apology he’d spent the entire drive to the aquarium preparing.

“I ain’t ever seen ya with your hair down before Yumi,” Mikuni breaths out, tears in his eyes. “Damn, you’re purty.”

“He’s sensitive about his hair,” Jun explains, still in a daze.

“Yumi-chan,” Tsurugi says, pushing off from Jun. It’s his turn to get on his knees, arms outstretched, inching his way slowly over to his still frozen roommate. “Yumi-chan, marry me.”

That gets a reaction from Yumikage. “If you fuckin touch me,” he begins, and his voice has never been so low, so dangerous before. “I will fucking drag you into this pool and drown you--and I know you can’t swim, Tsurugi.”

“If you agree to marry me, that’s fine,” Tsurugi says, eyes still trained on the other. He inches a bit further forward.

“I’m gonna fucking _kill_ you!” Yumi snarls, and his tail thrashes violently in the water, slapping against the surface and sending ripples across the pool. “And _you_ ” he says, looking at Jun. “You _betrayed_ me!” His tail thrashes again, sending some water spilling over the side of the tank. “I know neither of them has their license!”

“Yumi-chan, just give our love a chance,” Tsurugi says. He seems to have forgotten that Jun and Mikuni are in the room. “I swear I’ll cherish you, in sickness and in health; I just want to give your beauty the respect and admiration it deserves.”

“I refuse!” Yumi shouts, voice echoing off the walls. His hands are balled into tight fists next to him, and his tail is creating a mini twister in the water.

“Yumi-chan, please,” Tsurugi begs, clasping his hands in front of him. “I have never been more sure of my sexuality or my attraction to you than in this moment!”

“Didn’t need to know that,” Jun mumbles, still trying to process the scene in front of him. Mikuni has given up on maintaining his composure, and is alternating between sobbing, hiccuping, and laughing as he collapses against the wall, a safe distance away from their roommate-turned-mermaid.

“Know what now?” A voice calls from behind him, and all four of them jump. A man who can’t be older than 25, sporting bright pink hair, has appeared in the entryway to the changing room. Another head ducks under his arm, this one belonging to a girl with silvery hair and a neutral expression. “Also, who are you all?”

“Do me a favor, Belkia, and kill them.” Yumi snarls, addressing the pink haired man.

“I don’t kill anyone I don’t know the names of,” he says, moving further into the room. “So, introduce us and I got you, Yumikage.”

“Roommates,” the girl murmurs, voice soft and quiet. She’s looking Jun, Mikuni and Tsurugi up and down, and nods her head confidently.

“Really, Otogiri? You sure?” The girl, Otogiri, nods again and Belkia’s eyes widen. “Wait, you three are Yumikage’s roommates?!” There’s excitement in his tone and the three of them nod uncertainly. “Oh, it’s so nice to finally meet you!” He bounds over to them, and it’s easy to picture a tail wagging behind him. “Yumikage talks about you three all the time!”

“Does he, now?” Jun asks, glancing back over at Yumi. His roommate chucks him the bird.

“You don’t get to say shit like that to me, not after what you’ve done,” he says bitterly.

“Oh, yes!” Belkia continues on, blissfully unaware of the situation. “Have you finally come to see him in one of the shows?”

“Shows?” Tsurugi croaks, rolling over onto his side. A single tear trails down his cheek.

“Yeah, the mermaid shows we put on.” Yumi makes a strangled noise over by the pool, and there’s a splash as he pushes himself off the ledge and into the tank. He disappears under the water, and they can just make out the outline of his tail sparkling in the water as he swims away from them. “All three of us are in the show,” Belkia explains, gesturing to himself and Otogiri. “But Yumi is the star!” He adds proudly, puffing his chest out.

That sends Mikuni into a fresh set of hysterics, and Jun has to close his eyes and breath deeply.

“You’re all invited to our wedding,” Tsurugi sobs from the floor. “Yumi-chan will be the most beautiful bride.”

“And why the fuck am I the bride?!” Yumi has resurfaced and is hiding in a corner of the pool, glaring daggers at his roommate.

“Does that mean you’re agreeing to marry me?” Tsurugi asks, crawling over to the edge of the tank. Yumi dives back under the water and when he resurfaces, he’s inches away from Tsurugi, who scrambles back hastily to avoid being yanked into the tank.

“And what is going on here?” Another voice asks, and everyone turns to look at the speaker. A man with only one arm and a pair of rectangular glasses is coolly surveying the room; he’s wearing a black wetsuit with red stripes down the side and there’s a whistle hanging around his neck.”

“A wedding, apparently,” Otogiri says, walking over to one of the dressers presumably to prepare for the show.

“Isn’t that wonderful Tsubakkyun?” Belkia asks, heading over to the closet to drag out two more mermaid tails, one peach and one pink.

“It would be more wonderful if there weren’t three strangers in our changing room,” Tsubaki says, eyes fixing on the intruders.

“Those are Yumi’s roommates,” Belkia supplies helpfully.

“Lunch,” Mikuni gaps out, holding the paper bag up. “We was bringin’ Yumi his lunch.”

“That’s very kind of you, but you aren’t allowed to be back here. My employees need to prepare for the show, and you’re bothering them.” The man’s eyes wander over to Yumi, who’s sulking in the corner of the tank.

“Thank you, Tsubaki,” he groans, sinking down to blow bubbles in the water.

“Of course,” Jun steps in, taking the bag from Mikuni and placing it on the dresser with Yumi’s bag next to it. “We’ll get out of your way now; sorry for the intrusion!” he calls over his shoulder as he marches his two roommates out of the room.

The three of them walk back to the lobby of the aquarium in stunned silence, each lost in his own thoughts. As a unit, they pause and look at each other in front of the ticket booth.

“Soooooo…” Tsurugi begins, drawing out the word.

“We are stayin’ for the show, ain’t we?” Mikuni finishes.

*

The mermaid tank is tucked in a corner of the aquarium, surrounded by a high wall of rocks. Jun’s wallet is considerably lighter as the three of them take their seats on the metal bleachers nearby the tank.

“This is the greatest day of my life,” Tsurugi informs the other two, clutching a tiny blonde mermaid plushie close to his chest.

“I can’t believe you made me buy that,” Jun complains. 

“It will serve in Yumi-chan’s place until he agrees to marry me,” Tsurugi declares, pressing a kiss to the plush’s head.

“Yumi’s gonna set that on fire,” Mikuni says. “You’d better watch out.”

Whatever Tsurugi is going to say in response to that dies in his throat as the house lights dim around them and the man from before, Tsubaki, appears under the spotlight center stage, a microphone in his hand.

“Everyone, please hold your applause until the end of the show,” he informs the crowd, voice echoing over the speakers. “Our mermaids are rather shy, and we don’t want to scare them away!” Already, Mikuni has his head buried in Jun’s shoulder. “Now, we hope you enjoy the show!”

It passes in a blur. Dimly, the three of them are aware of Belkia and Otogiri, dancing with each other in the tank and splashing the waiting crowd, but their focus is solely on their roommate who is indeed the star of the show.

Yumikage looks like an ethereal being, twisting and looping in the water like it’s second nature to him. His hair fans out behind him in the water, framing his face in a golden net of light. It’s hard to keep up with how fast he swims, paddling from one side of the tank to the other in a matter of moments; when he flips out of the water, Tsurugi actually cheers out loud, which earns them their fair share of strange looks.

By far, the best part of the show is the singing. Somehow, Belkia, Otogiri and Yumi end up perched on the rocks in the middle of the tank, vocalizing to a track that has come on the speakers. It’s at that point where Mikuni loses all his ability to function and has to excuse himself from the show, gasping and snorting.

The show ends with a series of increasingly amazing acrobatic tricks, and all three of the ‘mermaids’ come to lean against the edge of the tank to wave goodbye to the crowd. A handful of small children rush forward to go talk to the mermaids and have their pictures taken; it takes Jun no small amount of effort to stop Tsurugi from going to join them.

The two of them make their way back to the front of the aquarium, where they find Mikuni who has his face buried in his hands. On the walk back to the car, Tsurugi tilts his head in thought, still holding tight to his plushie. “I changed my mind,” he says dreamily, playing with the mermaids hair. “I don’t want a Southern dictionary for Christmas--I want a season pass to the aquarium.”

*

All three of them are huddled together on the couch when Yumi gets home.

They know he’s back because they can hear him stomping outside the door a fraction of a second before he flings it open violently. Jun flinches at the sound, but Mikuni and Tsurugi hold their ground.

“You all have five seconds to apologize before I kill you,” Yumi snarls, kicking the door shut behind him. His hair is still damp, but it’s pulled back into its usual ponytail.

“And are you fixin’ to do that via song or…?” Mikuni questions, leaning back against the couch. Jun, for all his self control, snorts, and that’s all it takes to send him and Mikuni back into the sobbing laughter that has plagued them all day.

“I am gonna smother you in your sleep,” Yumi says, and his voice is calm for the first time that day. He’s moved beyond normal anger and into tranquil fury.

“Don’t bully my husband,” Tsurugi scolds the other two.

“And I’m going to drown you,” Yumi adds with a nod in Tsurugi’s direction.

“As long as you do it with love,” his roommate says cheerfully. It’s then that Yumi notices the mermaid plushie tucked next to Tsurugi on the couch, and for a solid minute all he can do is stare at it.

When he regains his ability to speak, all he manages to get out is, “I’m going to have you three banned from the aquarium for the rest of your lives.”

“Then how will we be able to attended yours and Tsurugi’s wedding?” Mikuni howls, slipping forward off the couch. Yumi gives them all a blank stare before turning and heading to his room, locking the door behind him.

*

The next morning, it takes a solid thirty minutes of apologies, the promise of doing chores for a month, and Tsurugi swearing he won’t propose again for at least another hour to lure Yumi from his room. His three roommates have to endure his wrath as he lays into them both verbally and physically, beating them about the head with pillows and Tsurugi’s new plushie.

He heads to work after breakfast after making them all swear not to show up at the aquarium. Finally, the apartment settles into silence, and a semblance of peace is restored.

“Oh, I was meaning to tell you guys,” Tsurugi begins, and Jun and Mikuni turn to look at him. “You can go back to getting me the dictionary for Christmas.”

“And whatever happened to the season pass?” Mikuni demands.

“I got Belkia’s number the other day,” Tsurugi begins, showing the other two his phone. Sure enough, Belkia’s contact information is displayed on the screen.

“And when the hell did you do that?” Jun is torn between sounding disapproving and impressed by Tsurugi’s actions.

“When you weren’t looking,” comes the cheeky response, and Tsurugi smiles. “He said that he’d hook me up with a season pass for free and that I could have a special backstage tour of the dressing room and a photo with the three mermaids.”

“Do you reckon’ he’d let me join you?” Mikuni asks eagerly, and just like that their tiny apartment falls back into the comfortable chaos that seems to be it’s default state of being.


End file.
